The Elusive Bicultural Latino Audience

According to Horowitz Associates’ Focus: Latino 2014 report. Bicultural Latinos, Hispanics who feel strong cultural ties to both their U.S. and Hispanic identities,
represent 53% of America’s Hispanics.

Biculturals, who tend to be more educated and make more money than average Hispanics, are a highly desirable target
demographic for advertisers. Additionally, compared to total Hispanics and TV content viewers overall, biculturals are younger, more entertainment-oriented, and very tech-savvy. Many media companies
and their advertisers are now working to develop effective strategies for engaging them.

Biculturals are an elusive audience in today’s complex media ecosystem, says
the report, aggressively adopting new media platforms and behaviors. While biculturals have the highest multichannel penetration (91%) of all Hispanic identity segments, their capability to watch TV
content on alternative platforms is similarly universal (95%).

Bicultural Hispanics spend almost 3 in 10 viewing hours watching streamed content, and less time watching
live, programmed TV. 38% of bicultural Hispanics have watched a made-for-web TV show, such as Netflix or Hulu originals, in contrast with 27% of TV content viewers overall. This places bicultural
Latinos squarely in the competitive fray between traditional media brands and new players seeking to grow.

Adriana Waterston, Horowitz’s SVP, Marketing and Business
Development, notes that “… media companies now recognize that biculturals are a unique, targetable market… but creating content for this audience poses a creative challenge…
”

Leveraging cultural cues is integral to appealing to bicultural Hispanics, the majority of whom are bilingual, says the report. While 3 in 4 hours of
biculturals’ self-reported viewing is in English, they maintain a strong connection to Spanish-language media and Hispanic culture.

65% of bicultural Hispanics
say that staying connected to Hispanic culture is important to them. And, at 30%, penetration of Spanish programming packages is highest among biculturals.

“This
audience (is)… equally at home among Latino and non-Latino peers… they reject inauthentic efforts to box them into cultural silos… or dictate to them what bicultural Latinos
‘should’ watch,” concludes Waterston.